Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2008 – A military child’s education is one of many things a servicemember’s injury or death in the line of duty could jeopardize. To make sure that never happens, retired Air National Guard F-16 pilot and Iraq War veteran Maj. Dan Rooney created Oklahoma-based “Folds of Honor.” “Folds of Honor is dedicated to providing deserving families with tailored, effective, lasting change through education,” said Jason Ohrenberger, the organization’s senior vice president for future development. “[It] provides current- and future-use educational scholarships for spouses and children of military servicemembers killed or disabled in action in Iraq or...

Tony Snow may be gone, but his legacy will live on in The Villages. The Buffalo Scholarship Foundation established a fund in his name to be awarded to graduates of The Villages High School. “The scholarship is just really heartwarming for us. What a wonderful way to commemorate someone’s life and what an example it represents,” said John Davis, a member of the foundation’s board of directors. An anonymous donor contributed $20,000 to the Tony Snow scholarship fund; all scholarships presented from these donations will be done in Snow’s name. The most important part of the scholarship is the significance...

(IsraelNN.com) An Israeli graduate student who received a two-year research scholarship to the prestigious University of Oxford has decided to give up his scholarship for the upcoming second year due to anti-Israel attitudes and anti-Semitism he was exposed to on the campus, according to The Jewish Chronicle. The student studied in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies within the university. The student, a graduate of one of Israel’s finest universities, suffered from daily anti-Israel remarks, harassment and an “unbearable atmosphere." Those of his fellow students aware of his military service also used this in their attacks against him. The student...

EVERETT -- Eleven years ago, Sabrina M. Weiner graduated as a valedictorian at Kamiak High School near Everett. She was a National Merit Scholar, aiming for a bright future after earning a Navy ROTC scholarship to Stanford University. Two months ago, Weiner, 27, forfeited her Navy career after seven years on active and reserve duty, during which she rose to the rank of lieutenant. In a rare instance involving a commissioned officer, Weiner was arrested and given a choice between a court-martial or less-than-honorable discharge after refusing to serve in Iraq. Speaking publicly for the first time about it, Weiner...

Fighting for Lexie : Court of Appeals Should Reject Latest School Choice Challenge Timothy Keller, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 16, 2008 The fate of Lexie Weck’s education is in the hands of a three-judge panel. The Arizona Court of Appeals will hear arguments Wednesday, April 23 in the nation’s first-ever legal challenge against publicly funded scholarships for children with disabilities and children in foster care. Lexie is a six-year-old girl with autism and cerebral palsy, who uses a scholarship to attend the Chrysalis Academy where she is flourishing. A year ago, she was in a public school making little...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2008 – Homefront America, a troop-support organization based in California, recently announced it will, for the third year, award 25 scholarships in May to benefit military children. Homefront America is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad. The $1,000 scholarships will be awarded with the help of the W. Daniel Tate family and Sara’s Hope, a charitable organization that offers annual scholarships to high school students who perform random acts of kindness. These awards will bring the total of...

9/11 FUND HAS NO CLASS KIN STIFFED BY $125M SCHOLARSHIP CHARITY By SUSAN EDELMAN September 9, 2007 -- A charity that tapped the influence of former President Bill Clinton and ex-Sen. Bob Dole and raised more than $125 million to send the children of 9/11 to college is stiffing families it promised to help, The Post has learned. Clinton and Dole spearheaded a campaign for Scholarship America that raked in millions to "guarantee a college education to the children and spouses of everyone who was killed or disabled on Sept. 11," as Clinton vowed on the Larry King show...

Among the dozens of wrenching accounts to come out of the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, the actions of 20-year-old Jeremy Hernandez were a bright spot: [ . . . ] Mr. Hernandez had recently been forced to drop out of an automotive repair program because he could not afford the $15,000 tuition. [ . . . ] That has changed. On Saturday, Mr. Hernandez learned that Dunwoody College of Technology had offered him a full scholarship toward a degree in applied science. [ . . . ] When President Bush’s staff contacted him to request a...

Memphis, TN (LifeNews.com) -- After several colleges came under fire for revoking the scholarships of student athletes who become pregnant, which pressured them into having abortions, the NCAA says it plans to review its policies. The college athletic organization says its women in sports committee will review the problem. Janet Kittell, the head of the NCAA's committee on women's athletics, told the Associated Press that her panel will hold a hearing on the issue in July "We want to act judiciously here," Kittell told AP. "I don't think it calls for emergency legislation, but I think it calls for a...

Whiskey co.'s Bravest effort BY RICHARD WEIR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER In 212 years, not much has changed on the label of a Jim Beam bottle - except the occasional addition of a new name to a list of distillers that spans seven generations. But the Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey has a new label in New York that pays tribute to the legacy of a fallen firefighter. Replacing the time-honored red seal and Jim Beam family crest is a red firefighter's helmet emblazoned with "343" - the number of firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Next to the helmet,...

Troves of scholarship For 1,500 years, Deir Al-Surian has had a working library. Active steps are now being taken to conserve this rich heritage, says Jill Kamil One of the most well preserved texts is this New Testament Coptic manuscript, 13th century The Coptic monastery known as Deir Al-Surian, or the Monastery of the Syrians, contains more than 3,000 books as well as a vast number of texts in Syriac, Aramaic (the language of Christ), Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic. They date upwards from the fifth century and today, as a result of the revival in Coptic monasticism in recent years,...

RICHMOND, Va. - A senator who had singled out an Indian man at a campaign event and referred to him as "Macaca" declined a leadership award from a minority scholarship fund Thursday after donors protested his selection. Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund donors had threatened to withhold contributions if Sen. George Allen, a Republican seeking re-election this fall, received the fund's Community Leadership Award. "The foundation told the senator that they've been catching a lot of static from members and some of their donors, and before it spins into a week of controversy, we just decided to decline it," Allen spokesman...

RICHMOND, Va. Senator George Allen is declining an award from a minority scholarship fund after an outcry over his selection for the honor. The Republican seeking re-election decided to forgo the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund's Community Leadership Award he was to receive next week after being told donors to the fund threatened to withhold contributions if he received it. Allen said in a statement that he regrets that -- quote -- "there are those who would put their personal or political dislike for him ahead of the needs of deserving students." Allen's decision came almost three weeks after he singled...

Ethnic studies — a relatively new field — could be harmed by the plagiarized passages and made-up facts discovered in University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill's work, a panel found. But scholars of ethnic studies, and those who have been closely watching the investigation, have varying opinions on whether there will be a "Churchill effect" on the field. The stinging report that became public last week rejected Churchill's assertion that there are different research standards for ethnic studies scholars. Panel members also found that the tenured professor strayed from the "bedrock principles" of scholarship. The five-member investigative panel arrived at...

College professors say the darndest things. Recently, we got an e-mail that signaled that the battle for academic freedom would soon be won or, at least, negotiated to a mutually acceptable stalemate by all of the parties in the conflict, but there was a catch. “I’m a professor that doesn’t give just the conservative side of an issue, I try to expose every side of an issue,” our visitor wrote. “That’s what a liberal education really is.” So far, so good, but here’s the rub: What was odd about this declaration of principle was that it came from the Music...

Over the years, politicians and, especially, college and university administrators, have led us to believe that federal aid to education was a ticket out of poverty, but that may be just another urban legend. “The more money a college-bound student’s family makes, the more likely he or she is to apply for federal financial aid, electronic records show,” Kara Wedekind of the Capital News Service writes. “It’s a situation that some experts say is caused by families scared off by college costs, even as the federal financial aid application deadline passed Monday.” “Dependent students in the lowest income bracket submitted...

CARLSON: The accuser in the Duke rape case has been offered free college tuition, whether or not she‘s telling the truth about being attacked. The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition announced Saturday it will grant the woman a full college scholarship, no questions asked. Joining me now, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He‘s founder and the president of Rainbow/PUSH. He joins us from New York. Reverend Jackson, thanks for coming on. REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: Yes. But let me put some context. You should be fair about that. Is a lot of circumstantial evidence as this case is now breaking... CARLSON: Right. JACKSON:...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2006 – Military spouses looking to further their education are receiving a helping hand, thanks to America Supports You team member the National Military Family Association. The group's Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship provides $1,000 to spouses of servicemembers studying for professional certification or attending post-secondary or graduate school. The funds can be used for tuition, fees, books, and school room and board, according to the NMFA Web site. "NMFA has been working with education issues for a while, (but the work) wasn't specific to military spouses," said Michelle Joyner, the organization's director of communications. "However,...

Here's a follow-up on the fight to honor Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame at the University of Washington. Renee Fricke, Director of the Annual Giving Programs at the University of Washington Foundation, e-mails: Michelle, You might be interested to know that we've set up the Lt. Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington Memorial Scholarship Fund through the University of Washington Foundation and have provided a link on the UW Foundation website for folks who want to support this effort. We've gotten a number of e-mails expressing an interest in supporting this fund. This fund will provide scholarships to...

A 16-year-old California boy won a premier high school science competition Monday for his innovative approach to an old math problem that could help in the design of airplane wings. Michael Viscardi, a senior from San Diego, won a $100,000 college scholarship, the top individual prize in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Viscardi said he's been homeschooled since fifth grade, although he does take math classes at the University of California at San Diego three days a week. His father is a software engineer and his mother, who stays at home, has a Ph.D. in neuroscience,...

Fifty-one seconds. It separated a free education from a tuition bill of $189,000. It was the difference between a framed West Point diploma and a "certificate of attendance." It meant returning to Oakland and becoming a telecom salesman - instead of being sent to Iraq as a proud soldier. For Brad Waudby, 51 seconds changed his life. Waudby, a 6-foot-5-inch, 340-pound football player recruited for his skills on the offensive line, failed the running test on his West Point physical. He was supposed to run two miles in 16 minutes 36 seconds. It took him 17:27. West Point had exempted...

Matt Krimm looked forward to the arguments with Erik Kristensen. Mr. Krimm graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School, and his friend graduated from Gonzaga. The schools share a long football rivalry, one with a history of tales. There was, for example, the time Gonzaga supporters placed a deer carcass on the front steps of DeMatha, home of the Stags. The schools take the rivalry seriously, and it is not something that simply goes away after graduation. That is one of the beauties of high school sports -- a connection of youth that never fades, something that, 30 years later, Gonzaga...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 22, 2005) – The “Sentinels of Freedom” community group honored a wounded Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Aug. 19 in a Pentagon Hall of Heroes ceremony, presenting him a scholarship that includes a lot more than educational benefits. Sgt. Manuel Mendoza-Valencia, 24, was awarded a scholarship certificate providing him with adapted housing, a handicapped-equipped van, educational benefits, and a job with SBC Communications. For a four-year period, Mendoza will also receive a team of mentors to help him transition from military to civilian life. Mendoza was wounded Oct. 3 when his M113 light armored personnel carrier...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2005 – Army Sgt. Manuel Mendoza-Valencia, 24, of San Ramon, Calif., was presented with the first Sentinels of Freedom scholarship today in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. "Sgt. Manny Mendoza has been an example of will and courage both on the battlefield and in his recovery," Gordon England, acting deputy secretary of defense, said. "He has given greatly in service to America. And like the men and women of our latest generation, Manny has much more to give and a long, bright future ahead of him." Mendoza is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a double...

As a child, Helena Aldridge developed a passion for defending the rights of others. Now on the brink of adulthood, the 18-year-old finds herself in disagreement with a group that ardently defends individual rights: the American Civil Liberties Union. Aldridge, who lives in Largo, graduated in May from East Lake High School. Faced with the prospect of paying for a five-year stint in the pharmacy program at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, she gratefully accepted a $450 scholarship from the Elks Lodge and two $500 scholarships from the NAACP. She was thrilled this summer when she learned she was one...

Forget “The Scholar.” Fifteen-year-old Katelyn Wilbanks from Catoosa, Oklahoma, received her “full ride” scholarship without having to undergo a battery of tests and challenges against stiff competition. Her own challenges, though, have been a bit more difficult.Wilbanks was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that’s resulted in 54 surgeries. Her left leg was amputated last year. Doctors expected her to die as a toddler, but she’s continued to defy the odds.Now she dreams of attending the University of Oklahoma, becoming a physician and helping others fight this disease. Thanks to the university and the “Today Show,” that dream might...

Ave Maria [University in Naples, FL] creates Terri Schiavo Scholarship By I.M. STACKEL, imstackel@naplesnews.com July 9, 2005 UPDATE — Likening Terri Schiavo to St. Therese, the Little Flower, the Rev. Michael Beers hinted Schiavo, too, could be canonized. The dean of Ave Maria University's undergraduate theology program, Beers was shepherding Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and brother, Bobby Schindler, through a Friday morning announcement that a new scholarship would be set up in Schiavo's name. Schiavo lost her ability to function physically or mentally on Feb. 25, 1990, after her heart stopped as a result of an eating disorder....

The dwindling cadre of academics who try to hold the line on standards have a particularly rough time of it when choosing textbooks. “Every semester I have to pick a new book and I have to pick the least bad book and it’s really depressing,” Suffolk County Community College professor Thomas E. Woods, Jr. says. “You need a good stiff drink.” “Other conservative academics from across the country have the same problem.” Dr. Woods teaches history at Suffolk, which is affiliated with the State University of New York. His partial solution to the textbook dilemma was to write his own...

Calling all Klingon speakers, duct-tape fashion designers, duck callers, ghost hunters and woolen garment makers: Thick wads of scholarship money are waiting for you. Endowment funds are waiting to be claimed by everyone from golf caddies to pagans. There's cash for the tall, the short, the fat and the determinedly nonathletic. Would-be college kids with extremely specific skills, talents or qualifications can find scholar dollars, and it seems that the crazier your interest, the better chance you have! Here's a look at some of the quirky, odd and specialized virtues that will be rewarded with college cash, chosen by publisher...

ABC television, which has hosted the annual beauty pageant telecast from Atlantic City, New Jersey, since 1997, has decided not to renew its option to carry the show in 2005, a network spokesman said. No further details were immediately available, including whether another television network would pick up the event.

October 16, 2000 - CBS has established an endowed scholarship in the amount of $50,000 in Dan Rather's name at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, Rather's alma mater. The scholarship honors the CBS EVENING NEWS anchor and managing editor for a continuing career in broadcast journalism marked by the highest standards of integrity and fairness, as well as unparalleled scope. The scholarship fund was announced by Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Television, and Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News. The CBS/Dan Rather Scholarship will provide a full tuition scholarship every year for a student majoring in journalism or...

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said Saturday that his daughter Vanessa has won a Fulbright scholarship to study medicine in London. Vanessa Kerry is a 27-year-old Harvard medical student who frequently travels with her father's campaign. According to the Fulbright Web site, about 1,000 U.S. students are awarded the federally funded fellowships each year of about 4,500 who apply. Kerry told reporters traveling with him to a long weekend vacation in Idaho that Vanessa recently found out she was one of this year's winners.

Welcome to Blogspirator.John Kerry had a history going back decades with Senator Senator J. William Fulbright. For example, Kerry testified before the Fulbright Committee. McCain: Hanoi Hilton Guards Taunted POWs With Kerry's Testimony [Newsmax.com] ...after he was released from the Hanoi Hilton in 1973, McCain publicly complained that testimony by Kerry and others before J. William Fulbright's Senate Foreign Relations Committee was "the most effective propaganda [my North Vietnamese captors] had to use against us." "They used Senator Fulbright a great deal," McCain wrote in the May 14, 1973, issue of U.S. News & World Report.While he was languishing in...

ROME, Georgia (AP) -- A high school football star whose college career was derailed by a rape conviction will attend Hampton University in Virginia this fall on an athletic scholarship. Marcus Dixon spent 15 months in prison after being convicted of aggravated child molestation, a felony, and statutory rape, a misdemeanor. He was accused of assaulting a 15-year-old classmate in a trailer behind Floyd County's Pepperell High School in February 2003, when he was 18. A jury acquitted Dixon of rape, but he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the molestation charge. Some called the case an injustice...

The annual duck celebration in Stuttgart, Ark., was winding down — the Queen Mallard beauty pageant was over and the world's best duck dog had been determined. Then Daniel Duke stepped onto the Main Street stage. Duke, a teenage veteran of more than a dozen duck-calling contests, wowed the judges with his renditions of the four required blasts: hail, feed, comeback and mating. Duke, from the nearby town of Brinkley, triumphed — and bagged one of the nation's more unusual college scholarships. "I knew I had a shot at it," the 19-year-old said of the $1,500 award, which he hopes...

TEMPE - Pat Tillman's legacy will endure through a collaborative effort between ASU and the Cardinals to establish a scholarship fund in his name.

Foundation Awards Scholarships to Children of Fallen Marines By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service Washington, April 6, 2004 -- With increased U.S. Marine deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is stepping up fund- raising so it can honor its pledge to award scholarships to all children of Marines killed in combat during the war on terror. The foundation also has pledged to award scholarships to all children of Navy corpsmen killed in combat while serving with the Marines, and to any children of Marines and former Marines killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Scholarships run up...

SIERRA VISTA - A scholarship to honor the memory of a Buena High School graduate who was killed in action in Iraq has been established by a anonymous donor at Cochise College. College Spokeswoman Denise Merkel said the $1,000 a year stipend is named the Sgt. M. Matthew Merila Memorial Scholarship. The first award of the scholarship will be made this year to a Buena High School graduating senior, she said, adding the scholarship is limited to Buena High School seniors and is valued at $500 a semester. To be eligible for the scholarship an applicant must show financial need,...

The $250 award -- which required an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness" -- has invited the wrath of everyone from minority groups and school officials to the chairman of the Republican National Committee himself.

BRISTOL, R.I. - On the sleepy coastal campus of Roger Williams University, a small liberal arts school unaccustomed to student activism, the College Republicans are reveling in the debate they've kicked up by offering a scholarship for whites only. The $250 award _ which required an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness" _ has invited the wrath of everyone from minority groups and school officials to the chairman of the Republican National Committee himself. Jason Mattera, a junior who started the conservative campus group in his freshman year, said...

The relentless assault of the Supreme Court liberal justices on the United States of America continues. What made them turn against us? Why are they so harsh and callous? What did we do to them? These kinds of questions come to mind when we see the constant attacks of this band of justices we once trusted and knew as the embodiment of wisdom and character. Wondering about this endlessly only helps them gain precious time in their insidious battle against us, however. Never mind why they do it. They had the advantage of surprise. We have been milling around in...

Households earning less than $40,000 annually will not be required to contribute to the cost of their children attending Harvard as part of the university's new initiative to reach out to students from low and moderate-income families. Through the initiative, announced Saturday, Harvard also will reduce the contributions expected of families earning between $40,000 and $60,000 and intensify its efforts to recruit talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It will set aside an additional $2 million to cover the expanded financial aid commitment. "We want to send the strongest possible message that Harvard is open to talented students from all economic...

Justice Scalia: "What next? Will we deny priests and nuns their prescription-drug benefits on the ground that taxpayers' freedom of conscience forbids medicating the clergy at public expense?" (KRT) In a major victory for advocates of a strict constitutional separation of church and state, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Washington state ban on taxpayer-funded college aid being given to students pursuing theology degrees. The 7-2 ruling buoyed opponents of school-voucher programs who said it might bolster their case that public money shouldn't be used to assist parochial-school students. But advocates of such programs took solace in the narrowness...

What is the nature of the State’s asserted interest here? It cannot be protecting the pocketbooks of its citizens; given the tiny fraction of Promise Scholars who would pursue theology degrees, the amount of any citizen’s tax bill at stake is de minimis. It cannot be preventing mistaken appearance of endorsement; where a State merely declines to penalize students for selecting a religious major, “[n]o reasonable observer is likely to draw … an inference that the State itself is endorsing a religious practice or belief.” Id., at 493 (O’Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). Nor can Washington’s...

<p>WASHINGTON — TheSupreme Court (search), in a new rendering on separation of church and state (search), voted Wednesday to let states withhold scholarships from students studying theology.</p> <p>The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship to a college student who was studying to be a minister. That holding applies even when money is available to students studying anything else.</p>

A "whites-only" scholarship set up as a prank by Republican students at an obscure New England university has ballooned into a cause célèbre, with basic American themes such as race, equal opportunity and freedom colliding. "Why shouldn't I do anything in my power to put myself in the best position possible?" asked Adam Noska, 20, after winning the £130 award at Roger Williams University in New England. "I'm a college student. I live in a house with rats." He had a point. But Mr Noska and his friends had also challenged one of the orthodoxies of today's United States: that...

<p>An official of the American Foreign Service Association recently chided the heirs to a family fortune for wanting to end a Princeton University scholarship program founded by their parents to train future diplomats.</p> <p>"The truth is the opposite," said one of the heirs to the A&P supermarket fortune, William Robertson, in a statement sent to Louise Crane in response to her criticism in a newsletter. Ms. Crane is the vice president of AFSA and represents State Department employees.</p>

'White' scholarship ignorant of affirmatice action, racist, intolerant, totally unacceptable Not everyone can laugh at the state of race relations in America. White, black, whatever. Some people have a problem with a serious topic like racism and stereotyping being mocked. Rightfully so, and to each his own. Racially motivated comedy has a huge share of supporters - look up "Chappelle's Show" if the rock you live under doesn't get cable yet - but it has some prerequisites for breaking into the scene. One of those criteria is that you certainly can't be racist. If you're willing to mock something while...

I just received an enquiry from a bright 20 year old sophomore, who is majoring in philosophy. She is interested in writing a paper on the historical development of ideological conservatism, and its various historical and present-day versions and offshoots, but she does not know much about the subject. Obviously, I suggested the Conservative Mind, written by the late Dr. Russell Kirk. But it is a dated book, having been published in 1953, and does not have iformation about the developments in American conservatism since then? Does anyone know of a book written in recent years, which traces the historical...

The Multi-Cultural Student Union's members are circulating a petition to try to force RWU to defund the Hawk's Right Eye. They have already taken to the dorms with their petition on the grounds that the White scholarship is offensive. Um...Free speech and tolerance?Not to mention that HRE and the White scholarship are but faintly related; whereas HRE is funded by RWU, the scholarship is privately donated money.